The Galt House Hotel is a 25-story, 1,310-room hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, established in 1972. It is named for two consecutive nearby historic hotels, both named Galt House, erected in 1835 and 1869; the first was destroyed by fire in 1865, and the second, demolished in 1921. The Galt House is the city's only hotel on the Ohio River.

Original Galt House (first and second hotels)

The namesake for the Galt House was, in the early 19th century, the residence of Dr. William Craig Galt. The house was located at the corner of Second and Main Street.

In 1835, the first Galt House, a 60-room hotel constructed on land purchased from Galt at the northeast corner of Second and Main, was opened by Col. Ariss Throckmorton. During the nineteenth century, the Galt House was acclaimed as Louisville's finest hotel. Novelist Charles Dickens was an especially noted guest of this original Galt House, which he called "a splendid hotel" where he was "handsomely lodged as though we had been in Paris, rather than hundreds of miles beyond the Alleghenies".

During the Civil War, the Galt House was utilized for meetings of Union generals. In September 1862, it was the scene of an unusual murder, when General Jefferson C. Davis (not to be confused with Confederate President Jefferson Davis) shot Union General William "Bull" Nelson after a dispute.

According to a historical marker for the original Galt House, in March 1864, Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman met at the Galt House to plan the invasion that led to the successful capture of Atlanta, Georgia, and Sherman's March to the Sea. As of 2014, this claim has fallen into dispute.

The first Galt House structure burned down in 1865. Four years later, in 1869, a larger Galt House designed by Henry Whitestone was established nearby, on the corner of First and Main streets. Known as the center of Louisville's social life during this time, noted guests included presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt as well as Grand Duke Alexis of Russia. The hotel closed in 1919 due to financial difficulties and was demolished in 1921 to be replaced by a new headquarters building for the Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company, now known as the Waterside Building.), and the KFC Yum! Center. It also hosts the Kentucky State Governor's Cup academic competition every year. Area residents enlisting in the US military through the Louisville United States Military Entrance Processing Command station (Louisville MEPS) are often given a chance to stay at the hotel for free the night before their early-morning military medical exam.

On August 21, 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump visited the Galt House to deliver the keynote address at AMVETS 75th National Convention. At the end of the speech the president signed a presidential memorandum, directing the United States Department of Education to forgive all student debt incurred by disabled military veterans.

See also

  • Brown Hotel
  • History of Louisville, Kentucky
  • List of attractions and events in the Louisville metropolitan area
  • List of tallest buildings in Louisville
  • Louisville in the American Civil War
  • Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere
  • Seelbach Hotel

References

  • Domine, David. Insiders' Guide to Louisville. Guilford, CT: Globe-Pequot Press, 2010. .